1. Field of the Disclosure
The disclosure relates to the field of wireless communications. More particularly, the disclosure relates to a shared signaling channel in a wireless communication system.
2. Description of Related Art
Wireless communication systems can be configured as multiple access communication systems. In such systems, the communication system can concurrently support multiple users across a predefined set of resources. Communication devices can establish a link in the communication system by requesting access and receiving an access grant.
The resources the wireless communication system grants to the requesting communication device depends, largely, on the type of multiple access system implemented. For example, multiple access systems can allocate resources on the basis of time, frequency, code space, or some combination of factors.
The wireless communication system needs to communicate the allocated resources and track them to ensure that two or more communication devices are not allocated overlapping resources, such that the communication links to the communication devices are not degraded. Additionally, the wireless communication system needs to track the allocated resources in order to track the resources that are released or otherwise available when a communication link is terminated.
The wireless communication system typically allocates resources to communication devices and the corresponding communication links in a centralized manner, such as from a centralized communication device. The resources allocated, and in some cases de-allocated, need to be communicated to the communication devices. Typically, the wireless communication system dedicates one or more communication channels for the transmission of the resource allocation and associated overhead.
However, the amount of resources allocated to the overhead channels typically detracts from the resources and corresponding capacity of the wireless communication system. Resource allocation is an important aspect of the communication system and care needs to be taken to ensure that the channels allocated to resource allocation are robust.
However, the wireless communication system needs to balance the need for a robust resource allocation channel with the need to minimize the adverse effects on the communication channels.
It is desirable to configure resource allocation channels that provide robust communications, yet introduce minimal degradation of system performance.